Area lawmakers were in Albany to call on the state Legislature to pass the Equity in Leave Act.

Advocates say it will protect workers who go on disability or medical leave from being fired. They also say medical leave payments haven’t gone up in three and a half decades.

“That’s when Taylor Swift was born, 1989 — it’s been that long since we changed the benefit to something more modernized,” state Sen. Jeremy Cooney, who proposed the bill, said. He was joined Tuesday by local Assemblymember Harry Bronson and other advocates.

News10NBC reached out to Senate Republicans to see what they had to say about the proposed legislation. Look for any updates here.